It is perhaps also worth mentioning that the construction of the Hanhikivi plant has not started yet. Indeed according to their latest press release[1] about the situation, they say that 5/15 document batches of the preliminary safety review have been submitted so far. So while this plant is going to be based on the same design, there's going to be an extensive review of all the details and quite possibly a lot of changes to match the regulatory requirements.

1: https://www.fennovoima.fi/en/news/quarterly-update-basic-des...

> It is perhaps also worth mentioning that the construction of the Hanhikivi plant has not started yet.

Looks like it has: https://twitter.com/PekkaTMakinen/status/1354383491937538051

Also, Finland already has a plant with two VVER reactors built in cooperation with the Soviet Union:

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loviisa_Nuclear_Power_Plant

Yes, they are constructing infrastructure like office buildings and roads to the power plant area. But none of that is under nuclear safety regulations. They will only start the plant construction once the plans have approval from the regulatory body.

Loviisa plants are VVER, but they too underwent a lot of redesign compared to the Soviet reference to meet safety criteria. That's why they called it "Eastinghouse".

Any reliable sources which would confirm that Belarus indeed uses "the cheapest" package without "extra safety features"?

Yep, I'm looking for this too. The VVER-1200 design definitely seems like it has a myriad of safety features, so I'm curious what is being left out.

I would carefully argue that there is a lot of fear-mongering from the Lithuanian side because the new NPP poses a great financial risk to Lithuania's investments into liquefied natural gas.

Good article on the issue: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/04/28/eu-nuclear...

> Yet, the regulators still identified a considerable list of issues to be addressed.

This is normal for any plant. Doesn't mean that VVER is less safe.

> Belarus, on the other hand, opted for the cheapest "basic" package with the bare minimum and pretty much "winged" the whole construction, ignoring all foreign concerns.

Do you have a source for that claim?